Ep. 21: The Adventurer Heart
is the twenty-first episode of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. It is a tribute to GoGo Sentai Boukenger. Synopsis A revived Ryuuwon appears. The former Bouken Red, "Chief" Satoru Akashi shows up!! Out of nowhere, Satoru is seen standing on the Gokai Galleon. He's trying to retrieve the precious "The Heart of Hades", but for that he needs help from the Gokaigers. But Zangyack and the Jaryuu clan are also after the Heart of Hades. And the Heart of Hades seems to be cause of Ryuuwon's revival. Plot First thing in the morning, Captain Marvelous begins with a heated argument with Navi over Basco's ability to steal powers from past Super Sentai warriors. The ruckus is interrupted by the appearance of Satoru Akashi, who asks the Gokaigers to help him search for a Precious known as the "The Heart of Hades" - which has the power to resurrect the dead. Upon landing on a forest to begin their treasure hunt, the Gokaigers and Satoru encounter a Zangyack army led by Insarn. Captain Marvelous, Luka and Satoru proceed on their journey while the other Gokaigers fend off against the Gormin Sailors. Upon entering a cavern, Captain Marvelous, Luka and Satoru discover the holding place of the Heart of Hades, only to see a Jaryuu place the Precious on the chest of the corpse of Ryuuwon. A revived Ryuuwon traps the trio in the cave before proceeding to attack the other Gokaigers. In the ensuing mayhem, Insarn retreats while Captain Marvelous, Luka and Satoru manage to break out of the cavern, and regroup with the rest of the team. All six Gokaigers change into the Boukengers to battle Ryuuwon and yank the Heart of Hades out of his chest and throw it to Satoru. As Ryuuwon still posed a threat, Gokai Silver entered Gold Mode and defeated him with the Gokai Legendream Final Wave. However, Ryuuwon enlarged himself, prompting the Gokaigers to summon GokaiOh and GoZyu Rex. When the Gokai Full Blast and Gokai Magi Bind have no effect on Ryuuwon, the Gokaigers use the Boukenger keys to unleash an image of DaiBouken - which attacks Ryuuwon before materializing into the GoGo Sword for GokaiOh to finish him off with the Adventure Drive. Cast * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : * : Guest Cast * : * : * : Gokai Changes *Gokai Changes in The Adventure Heart: **Gokai Red - Bouken Red **Gokai Blue - NinjaBlue, Bouken Blue **Gokai Yellow - Bouken Yellow **Gokai Green - NinjaBlack, Bouken Black **Gokai Pink - NinjaWhite, Bouken Pink **Gokai Silver - Shurikenger, Bouken Silver, Gold Mode *With this episode, Ahim has transformed into all 4 of her White Ranger counterparts at least once. *This episode marks the only time the Gokaigers use the Bouken Black Ranger Key. *This is the only time Ahim becomes Bouken Pink. Elements/Homages to Boukenger *The title of this episode refers to Boukenger: like Gingaman, the titles are two nouns connected by "no", with the first explaining the second. However in Boukenger's case, this is usually used to explain an artifact or idea that is crucial in the episode and slightly infers to the title of the first episode of Boukenger (which in that case was "Majin no Shinzou" or "The Demon God's Heart", with the "heart" being referencing to the actual organ; while this case was "Boukensha no Kokoro", with the "Kokoro" referring to the "heart" akin to a "spirit"). *Satoru mentions about AkaRed at end of the episode, who he had met in Boukenger vs. Super Sentai, with the Boukenger being the first team to encounter the legendary hero also connected to the Gokaiger. *The episode is similar to the structure of the first Boukenger episode, Task 1: The Heart of the Demon God, whereas two new adventurers (Masumi and Natsuki in Boukenger, Marvelous and Luka in Gokaiger) traverse an unknown area with Akashi to prove their worthy and ultimately must fight against a villain from the Negative Syndicates who ends up with the precious (Arch Priest Gajah in the original episode, Ryuuwon here). **The Marvelous/Luka combo in particular work similar to the combo of Masumi Inou and Natsuki Mamiya to Akashi; Marvelous being much more cynical about working with the Boukenger Chief like Masumi& Luka being much more light about the concept of going on an adventure like Natsuki. **Similarly, Insarn's usage as a mere distraction amidst other threats reflects the Negative Syndicate structure of how they could be threats some instances and nuisances others; with Insarn most likely representing constant female Boukenger opponent Shizuka of the Wind. *The usage of a combined Gokai Change of ninja teams (Kakuranger and Hurricaneger) connects with Dark Shadow, one of the rival evil Syndicates who fought with the Boukenger who were a squadron of evil ninja. *The Precious in focus in this episode, the Heart of Hades, works similar in empowering whoever uses it's power; this works similar to the Heart of Gordom, the first and final Precious of major focus within Boukenger. Both are connected due to both being used by major Boukenger opponents: the Heart of Gordom to Arch Priest Gajah and the Heart of Hades to Creator King Ryuuwon. Notes *As part of Super Hero Time, this episode aired alongside Kamen Rider OOO episode 42, Ice, Greeedification, and Broken Wings. *'Viewership': 4.8% *This is the first tribute episode where a Legend Shift is not used. **However, the recap episode, Ep. 45: The Confused Ninja, would edit in a legend shift on Satoru's appearance here in the montage of all the legends that appeared in the series. *Although the Boukenger's Greater Power was active as of Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle with Satoru as one of the many Legends encountered, Captain Marvelous does not realize it until encountering Satoru personally in this episode. *It is impossible to say where the corpse of Ryuuwon came from due to his final fate in Boukenger: losing all of his power due to over-exertion to transform back into his original human form before being blown up by SGS with the destruction of their own Precious Bank. However due to the series establishing Ryuuwon having revived from much worse, it's possible he may have reformed into his Jaryuu form and reclaimed by his remaining minions prior to the discovery of the Heart of Hades. *This episode was aired the same day of the digital TV switch in Japan (the end of analog TV) **From a technical term, this was appropriate due to Boukenger being the first filmed in a 16:9 format, in preparation for the HD switch; even though Shinkenger was the first Sentai filmed in HD *However, this episode was never adapted in Super Megaforce , but the footage of the Gokai Change into Boukenger was used in the episode Earth Fights Back . DVD/Blu-ray releases Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger Volume 6 features episodes 21-24: Ep. 21: The Adventurer Heart, Ep. 22: Promise from the Star, Ep. 23: People's Lives are the Future of the Earth and Ep. 24: Foolish Earthlings. It was released on December 9, 2011. http://www.toei-video.co.jp/DVD/sp21/go-kai.html Gokaiger DVD Vol 6.jpg|''Gokaiger'' Volume 6, DVD cover GokaiVol06-BRCover.jpg|''Gokaiger'' Volume 6, Blu-ray cover References External links *Episode 21 page on the TV Asahi site Category:Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger Category:Sentai episodes Category:tribute episodes